Bahrain vaccinates 17pc of population

BAHRAIN has inoculated at least 17 per cent of its population, with 295,296 people taking their first dose of coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccinations until last night.

This is yet another milestone in Bahrain’s fight against the novel virus, as the country is expected to vaccinate 300,000 people with the first dose soon.

With a daily average of around 4,500 people taking a dose in February, the 300,000 mark should be touched either today or tomorrow.

The coronavirus has so far infected 121,778 people and has taken 444 lives since last year.

The population of the country currently stands at 1,701,575, based on which those who took the first dose of their vaccinations stands at 17.35pc.

However, since vaccines are administered only to adults, the precise number of those who have been inoculated cannot be derived as no details are available of the country’s exact adult population.

An average of 4,600 people took vaccination daily, in February

Campaign

Bahrain launched its national vaccination campaign on December 17. Citizens and residents aged above 18 were able to register for the approved Chinese Covid-19 vaccine Sinopharm on the ministry’s website healthalert.gov.bh.

By the end of January 31, as many as 171,568 people had been given their first dose, according to official statistics, making it a daily average of 3,730.

In February, 122,384 people have been vaccinated until yesterday, with a daily average of around 4,500.

The highest number of daily vaccinations were administered on February 8, when 11,824 people took the shot, followed by February 12, when 9,720 were inoculated.

February 7 and 6 followed close in numbers with 9,710 and 8,863 respectively. The lowest number of 1,019 was recorded on February 2.

The Supreme Council for Health chairman Dr Shaikh Mohammed bin Abdulla Al Khalifa earlier said that the country had a capacity to vaccinate 5,000 individuals per day, with plans to expand it to 10,000 per day.

Bahrain currently offers five vaccines for its citizens and residents to choose from – Sinopharm, Pfizer/BioNTech, Oxford-AstraZeneca, Sputnik V and Johnson & Johnson.

In November, Bahrain granted emergency approval for the use of Sinopharm on frontline workers who wished to receive it.

Later the national vaccination campaign was launched with the rolling out of free vaccines to the public in line with efforts to ‘safeguard the community, through the provision of a safe vaccine’, as stated by the Health Ministry.

This follows the successful completion of the phase three clinical trials on Sinopharm in co-operation with the Abu Dhabi-based G42 company and Chinese National Biotech Group, a subsidiary of Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharma, in October, on 7,700 volunteers.

Later the choice of Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine was opened to the public, a vaccine that was granted emergency-use permission for frontliners in Bahrain on December 4.

Bahrain was the second country after the United Kingdom to approve the German vaccine.

Approved

On January 24, with around 150,000 individuals vaccinated since December 17, and with a million doses being ordered from Sinopharm and Pfizer-BioNTech, the country approved a third vaccine for Covid-19 – the Oxford-AstraZeneca produced by the Serum Institute of India.

India gifted a consignment of 100,000 doses of Covishield vaccine to Bahrain as a ‘friendly gesture’.

Adding to the choice, Bahrain has approved a fourth vaccine for Covid-19 – Russia’s Sputnik V and the latest addition is the single-shot option from Johnson & Johnson, which was approved on Thursday.

National Taskforce for Combating Covid-19 monitoring committee head Lieutenant Colonel Dr Manaf Al Qahtani had stated that Bahrain aims to vaccinate 1.1 million of its population against the coronavirus, adding that mass immunisation was the only way to combat the pandemic.

Vaccinations are being administered from various health centres and the King Hamad University Hospital in Bahrain.

And, in the latest development, Bahrain also opened Covid-19 vaccine registration for pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers. Health Ministry assistant under-secretary Dr Maryam Al Hajeri in a statement said that the category was allowed to choose from Sinopharm and Pfizer/BioNTech. She added that the decision was taken after all the recommendations issued by the World Health Organisation and the US Centre for Disease Control related to providing adequate protection for this group, were well-studied.

Source: https://www.gdnonline.com/Details/937387/Bahrain-vaccinates-17pc-of-population